Crimes and Favors
by Jumpingjoy22
Summary: This is a two-shot I wrote for my recently deceased friend; it takes place in the summer between Twilight and New Moon. Bella wanted to start off her summer vacation with her wonderful boyfriend, not solve a murder mystery that could endanger her life.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is a two-shot I wrote for my friend who recently died. She had a kind heart and she absolutely loved Twilight so this is for her. Rest in peace my fellow scout sister~**

* * *

**Part 1**

Bella was just walking casually down the familiar street towards a bus stop in which she rarely went to. She had just finished a tedious shift at Newton's Outfitters and was more than ready to go home and fall asleep on her bed. Unfortunately the fastest way home was the bus.

Bella didn't mean to get stuck at a bus stop. Her father was supposed to pick her up after work but apparently Charlie got caught up in a cat-and-mouse chase with an escaped criminal and called her saying that he wasn't going to be home for a while. Bella would have also gladly called Edward if it weren't for the fact that he was all the way up in Alaska.

Summer break had just begun and Bella was looking forward to celebrating the first week with her wonderful boyfriend, but no, Edward's cousins (another group of vegetarian vampires that lived all the way up in Denali, Alaska) asked him and his family to visit them for the first week. So Bella painfully let him go and he hesitantly gave her a temporary goodbye, promising her that he would be back before she new it and that they would have the rest of the summer to spend together. He also left saying his usual mantra to her:

"I love you so you can't do anything to hurt yourself or be reckless while I'm gone."

And Bella followed his words…sometimes. She couldn't help it she was life's personal danger magnet (maybe even death magnet).

Bella sat down on the wooden bench of the bus stop sandwiched between a gruff, middle-aged man and a small, black-haired girl. Bella tapped her foot with each second that went by that she waited for the bus. Bella was about to decide to walk home when a large bus come rolling down the hill and screeched to a stop in front of the bench.

The people who were sitting on the bench filed in to a straight line while getting change out of their pockets and purses. As Bella reached into her pocket to look for something to pay the bus driver, she realized that all her pockets were empty.

_Oh, Crud! _Bella exclaimed inside her head. Bella had no idea what to do when everyone else in front of her had paid and moved inside the bus.

"What'll it be, miss?" Asked the bus driver. Bella was about to turn around and walk home until the girl that sat next to her on the bus stop came in front of her.

"She's with me," the girl said and handed the bus driver a one-dollar bill. She then proceeded to take Bella by the hand and walk her towards the back of the bus where they sat next to each other. When everyone was on the bus and when it started to move forward Bella turned to the girl.

"Thank you for paying for me," Bella said with a sincere smile.

"It's fine. It's only a little money anyway," the girl responded back.

"What's your name?" Bella asked curiously.

"Charlotte. What's yours?"

"Bella."

"It's nice to meet you Bella. You from around here?"

"Yah, I live in Forks I actually just recently moved here. I'm the police chief's daughter."

"Cool my uncle's a police officer."

"That's nice," Bella said then speculated something for a second, "Um…Charlotte, are you by yourself?"

"Yes but I live close by. My mom is waiting for me at home."

Before their conversation could continue, the bus stopped and the bus driver shouted an address that Bella recognized as her destination.

As Bella got up from her seat, she said to Charlotte, "I have to go now. Thank you so much and if we ever meet again I promise to repay you."

Charlotte said goodbye and Bella quickly got off the bus before the bus doors could close and trap her in the vehicle. Bella gave Charlotte a wave that Charlotte reciprocated back as the bus trudged away towards its next destination.

Rain started pouring down on Bella's head and she quickly ran down the street towards her house. She walked up the stairs in front of her house-almost slipping on the already wet concrete-and scrambled to get her house key into the lock.

Once the door opened Bella slipped inside and shut the door behind her. She then proceeded up the stairs towards her bedroom. One inside her room, Bella crashed down on her bed and fell asleep in her damp clothes.

* * *

Bella woke up the next day alone and cold in her bedroom; her hair in a tangled muddle and her clothes in a wrinkled mess. She grumbled dragged herself out of bed and put on some fresh clothing. She then ensued towards the bathroom where she pulled a brush through her hair and growling every time the brush got stuck in a knot.

Once she was done with her hair, she splashed some water on her face to wake her from her morning stupor. She then walked ungracefully down the stairs to go make some breakfast.

It was no surprise when she found Charlie sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee mug in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Charlie was reading the newspaper carefully and seemed wary about what he was reading.

"What are you reading there?" Bella asked as she threw some Ego waffles into the toaster.

"Remember how I said I was looking for that criminal?"

"Yah, did you catch him?"

"No. He ran off and tried to rob a little girl and ended up shooting her...and um…she died. They put the girl's obituary in the newspaper."

"That's horrible," Bella gasped. _What if it was someone I knew? _Bella thought.

"What was her name?" Bella asked.

"Says her name was Charlotte H. E. Ather."

"Charlotte?" Bella said incredulously and grabbed the newspaper from her father. Well enough a school picture of Charlotte smiling was sitting smack in the middle of the newspaper with the headlines "Girl Murdered" hovering over her picture. There were no words to describe how stunned Bella was.

"You knew her?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. I just briefly met her yesterday she gave me change to ride the bus and we talked a bit. She was such a nice a girl…"

"I'm sorry Bells…," Charlie said softly, but then his fist came down on the table, shaking it, and yelled, "If only we had caught him in time!"

"It's not your fault. You'll find him," Bella said while laying a comforting hand on her father's shoulder.

"Where did you say you last saw that little girl?" Charlie asked.

"On the bus."

"Did you see this man?" Charlie then pulled out of his pocket a mug shot of a gruff-looking man. Bella didn't recognize him at first but then she realized that he was the man she sat next to on the bench at the bus stop. Bella also thought she saw him sit in front of her and Charlotte on the bus.

"Yes!" Bella exclaimed.

"He's the criminal we've been looking for. Where did you last see him?"

"At the bus stop and on the bus. I remember him sitting close to me and Charlotte at both places."

"Bella, can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"I'm going to need you to come to a line-up at the police station."

* * *

"Why do you need me to help you find a criminal you already have pictures of?" Bella asked bemused. Bella and Charlie had drove off towards the police station the minute they were finished with breakfast. Charlie had caught a couple of people being suspected of the criminal last night and they were put into the police station's prison until further inspection during the line-up today.

Charlie was practically tugging Bella by the arm through the police station hallways towards the line-up room.

"That picture I showed you of him is the only picture we had of him and it only shows his head and face so were not quite sure of his entire physical appearance and the picture is a bit worn out and outdated so were not quite to sure of his age either."

"So why'd you give me a picture of a person that I could have mistaken as someone else?"

"Because if you saw someone that looked like the criminal in the picture by that Charlotte girl then it was most likely him."

"Who's this criminal anyway?"

"Martin Jones. Jones escaped the state prison about two weeks ago and the officials think he's hiding somewhere around here."

"How many suspects did you find?"

"Not many just four." Just as Charlie said that they came up to the hallway where the line-up room was. In the line-up room, four gruff looking men were standing with their backs against the wall and their hands firmly at their sides. They could be seen through a one-sided mirror that was part of the wall that divided the room from the hallway.

"Now remember Bella," Charlie said softly, "It's a one-sided mirror so you can see them but they can't see you so you have nothing to worry about, okay?"

"Okay." Bella peered at the men through the mirror closely. They were all gruff looking but they all had a different physical structure, posture, and fashion to them. Two men were petite while the other two were lanky, all of them had straight backs except for one boy who was slumping over, and two of them had biker outfits while one looked like a plumber and other one had business suit. Despite their demeanors, Bella could not pinpoint one of them as the possible criminal she saw yesterday.

"He's not here," Bella said disappointed.

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked.

"I'm sure, not one of them looks the slightest like him."

"Take another look," Charlie suggested. Despite a second examination, Bella could not condemn any of the men as the murderer.

"I guess we'll have to keep looking," Charlie said disheartened, "I'll drive you home Bells."

The car ride home was not joyful one as a depressive feeling filled around Bella and her father. Bella didn't even look at her dad as she fiddled with hem of her skirt thinking about poor Charlotte's family and where Jones could be hiding.

Bella thought about the men she just saw and thought that maybe one of them was actually Jones and that she'd just missed him. But then again when she thought about their faces she just couldn't match one of them to the face she saw on the bus.

_If only I had followed her to her home _Bella thought. She couldn't help but blame herself a bit for Charlotte's death. Charlotte was just a little girl alone on a bus and it was selfish of her to not make sure she got home safely after what Charlotte did for her.

_But, _Bella thought, _if I went with her to her home, would anything have changed? Could I have stopped an escape convict from hurting a little girl? Would I have died too?_

So many questions, not enough answers…

Bella was pulled out of her thoughts by Charlie's police cruiser coming to a halt in the driveway.

"Okay Bella, I'm going to work till eight tonight and if I have to work later I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay. Be safe." Bella got out of the car and waved at Charlie as he pulled out of the driveway and down the street. Bella then continued to walk inside her little home, completely unaware of the stranger watching her from afar…

* * *

Bella stared disbelievingly at the clock as it read eight-thirty p.m. Charlie was supposed to be home half and hour ago and she didn't get a call once saying he was going to be home late and Bella was starting to get a bit anxious.

Bella spent the whole day cooking, eating, sleeping, cleaning, and reading and now with nothing to do she could only worry about her absent father. That's when possibilities started swarming within her head.

_What if he was chasing Jones right now? What if he just forgot to call? What if he found another civilian killed by Jones? What if he was just late running home? What if he was dead? What if he was alive?_

Bella's optimistic and pessimistic side battled uncontrollably inside her head until it became enough and she just had to leave the house to look for Charlie. She grabbed her car keys off the counter and sped out the door; she was already outside when the phone rang inside the house.

Bella jammed her keys into the ignition and hoped that today wasn't the day her car would finally break down. The car roared to life and Bella sighed in relief. She carefully but hurriedly pulled out of the driveway and drove the way towards the police station.

It started to pour down harsh rain that made Bella grit her teeth; now she had to navigate through the darkness and the rain with only worn out windshield wipers and headlights.

As she was driving, Bella's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled to the side of the rode and picked up the phone.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello, Bella love," a voice said at the other end of the line, which Bella recognized to be the voice of her boyfriend.

"Hey Edward! How's Alaska?"

"Actually I have good news."

"Is it long?"

Bella could practically see Edward frowning from the other end of the line. "Why?" Edward asked.

"I just have to find my dad real quick…you know what I'll call you later," Bella said before hanging up. She continued to drive through the wet roads not even noticing the silver Volvo following her several meters behind her.

Bella continued to squint through the rain and darkness and managed not to get lost on her way. Her phone buzzed a couple more times but she just continued to ignore it. Little did Bella know that it was her father calling her this time and he was just as anxious as she.

Bella was just a mile away from the police station when she noticed a man waving at her from the side of the road. Bella didn't recognize the man (at first) and she was still in a hurry to find her father, but she might as well help the poor soul find a way home. Maybe this time she could actually save someone from death.

She pulled over next to the man on the sidewalk and opened the passenger door for him.

"Where are you heading?" Bella said nonchalantly but then her eyes widened a bit when she recognized the man from the bus stop. The man took out a large caliber pistol and pointed it directly between Bella's eyes.

"Hello, Bella," the man said with a sadistic grin.

"Hello…Jones," Bella replied back. On the outside Bella was staring unflinchingly at Jones and the gun pointed at her head, but on the inside Bella was mentally saying prayers and curses at the same time.

* * *

**So like I said before, this if for my friend who recently died (no she was not murdered but she did die a horrible death at a young age) and I dedicate this story to her. Maybe there's Wi-Fi in heaven and she's reading this right now, but in any case I would appreciate it if you would send your prayers to her. I'll update the second part of this story during this week.**

**-J.J.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II**

"Something tells me this was premeditated," Bella said nonchalantly.

"Maybe," Jones said before giving a dark laugh.

"Do I get any last words?" Bella asked her calm façade was already breaking under her quivering skin. Bella gave a quick glance around the car when Jones wasn't looking directly at her. She wasn't looking for a weapon because she new that if she moved a muscle she would be dead with the press of a trigger.

She was looking at all the little things in her car. The things that held memories. On the window shield was a little crack that Mike Newton has caused when he was playfully throwing pebbles at her and accidentally threw one too hard and it hit the windshield causing the small crack. Bella had chased him around the school parking lot a good couple of times after that.

There was also the little flower key chain that hung from the car mirror that Angela had given her as a souvenir from her vacation to Hawaii. It looked so much like a real flower that when Angela had presented the key chain Bella had thought that Angela had really salvaged a little yellow hibiscus (the Hawaiian state flower) all the way from sunny Honolulu to gloomy Forks.

Bella shifted her eyes to maybe the most precious memory in the car: sticking out of her car compartment was a picture of her and Edward after prom. Bella and Edward had danced the night away until Bella's phone went missing. Bella had spent fifteen minutes panicking then another half hour with her and Edward sifting through the grass and scavenging the dance floor for her phone when in reality Alice had stolen the phone to take pictures of them the entire time and then created a slide-show background on Bella's phone of Bella and Edward. The picture sticking out of the compartment was one Alice had printed herself and it was of Bella and Edward on the grass looking for her phone with their hands accidentally brushing against each other with Bella horrifically blushing and Edward looking a bit embarrassed.

They were all such happy memories, small but happy and it made Bella disheartened that she might never think of these memories and all her others again. A lone tear slid down Bella's cheek from her usually dry eyes.

"Aww," Jones said with mock sympathy, "Don't cry. You'll see your Charlotte friend soon enough."

"Why?" Bella couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing personal," Jones responded, "I've just worked too hard have any loose strings."

"Don't you at least feel bad that you killed a child?"

"Of course," Jones face actually softened for a second, "She was a pleasant girl with happy smile, but she knew who I was and she tried calling the police and I panicked…it should be easier to kill you now that I have experience with this kind of murder."

Bella shut her eyelids as she felt a dam starting to break in her eyes. She could hear Jones clicking the silencer on the gun on and she thought she felt a bead of sweat run down her face.

She never wanted to die like this but what could she do? She could already hear Jones's finger pulling on the trigger.

"Three," Jones said counting down on the last seconds of her life.

"Two."

"One."

Jones pulled the trigger-

-Only for nothing to happen.

"Darn it. I knew I should've checked if it was loaded," Jones grumbled. Bella let out a quiet sigh of relief knowing that it wouldn't be her last breath.

"Don't think that you're safe though," Jones said before pulling out a Swiss army knife-with the knife already flipped out-from his pocket and pressing against the pulse in Bella's neck. Bella was caught off guard so abruptly that it took all her willpower to stifle a scream. Bella bit her lip hard to keep in any other screams from being let out and she could already feel the taste of blood in her mouth.

"I always carry one of these around, just in case," Jones said with a dark chuckle and pressed the knife harder against Bella's neck, a bit of blood already starting to trickle down her skin but Bella kept on a brave face.

As a last hope, Bella looked around outside to see if anyone was nearby, but there was no one around. Of course there wasn't the only thing that surrounded them was more road and on both sides were a vast stretch of wilderness.

Bella was about to say her last prayers when she noticed something in her review mirror. There was something parked not far from her car behind her. Bella squinted and tilted her head a tiny bit to see what the object could be.

"What are you looking at?" Jones asked suspiciously, but it was too late. Just then, something-or _someone_-had flung open the passenger door (though Bella was pretty sure she locked the doors), grabbed Jones, and dragged him out of the car and into the wilderness. It was too dark outside to see what dragged out Jones and Bella was too stunned to move out of the car.

Bella's hand immediately flew to her neck where she could no longer feel the pressure of a knife. When she brought her hands up to her face she could see that they were partially stained with blood.

She scavenged her glove compartment for a paper towel and came across a tissue, which she used to wipe the blood off her hands and neck. She found another tissue and pressed that against the wound on her neck where she was bleeding to stop any more blood from flowing out.

Bella rested in silence for a couple of seconds-breathing in fresh air that could have been taken from her moments ago-and rested her head against the window. The moon broke out from the clouds and shined brightly on the world and particularly reflected its light off of the thing parked not far from Bella's car.

Bella peered at the review mirror again and leaned in closer. She could tell the object was a car but she didn't know who's. It certainty wasn't there a few minutes ago when Jones had his gun or when she was driving. Or at least she didn't notice it.

The moonlight came out again and shined truth down from the sky and that's when Bella recognized the car…a silver Volvo.

Bella burst out from the car, dropping her bloody tissue, and ran bravely into the wilderness. She tried looking for footprints that could lead her to the person she wanted to see. The moonlight could not break though the web of tree branches above leaving Bella blinded in the dark. But Bella was not scared, if anything she was scared for Jones.

Bella looked around wildly for any sign and a few seconds later, she heard a muffled moaning straight ahead that Bella could recognize as Jones's. Bella ran straight in the direction of where the moaning came from and it wasn't long until Bella burst into an abandoned clearing.

Well, almost abandoned.

In the middle of the clearing was Edward with his fists clenched and his face was frozen in pure fury as he crouched beside an unconscious Jones lying down on the ground. Or at least Bella hoped he was unconscious.

Edward raised one of his clenched fists in an act that showed he was about to give the final blow to Jones.

"Edward!" Bella shrieked before Edward's fist could touch Jones's face. Edward's head snapped up at the sound of his name.

"Bella," He replied softly. Bella couldn't stand the distance between them any longer. She ran to where Edward was kneeling in the middle of the meadow in just a few seconds. She crashed into his chest, nearly bruising herself and almost fell over if it weren't for Edward's arms catching her. He then gently crushed her into his chest and rocked her back her forth like she was a child.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Edward asked. Edward's eyes then zoomed in on the cut on Bella's neck.

"Oh, no, are you alright?" Edward asked worriedly as he continued to rock her back and forth.

"I'm fine. I think the question is _he _alright?" Bella said and pointed to the obviously unconscious convict beside him.

"He has some bruises and a head wound but he'll be fine." Edward was talking about Jones but he kept his eyes only on Bella.

"You do realize that that man knows you're not human."

"I didn't use any of my normal strength on him. I wasn't foolish enough to show my vampiric side, in case I let him live. He probably just thinks that he got beat up by some brute."

"A brute that is seventeen years old and my boyfriend who was conveniently nearby when Jones attacked when he should be Alaska." Bella stared suspiciously at her near-perfect boyfriend.

"That was the good news I was trying to tell you on the phone. My cousins got caught in helping another coven with their certain…well let's just say political affairs, and my cousins were unable to have us over for the week. I was driving to your house when I saw you driving yourself on the road. I followed you hoping that you would notice me driving right behind you, but you didn't."

"So instead of waiting for you to get to your destination to approach you, I called you. When I called you, you seemed strangely anxious and then when you hung up without an explanation I became worried so I continued to follow you. I then saw you pick up some man from the street. I just thought he was a man that needed a ride so I parked my car and waited for you to continue to drive again

"I was hoping to greet you after you dropped off the man, but I started getting suspicious when you were still talking with the man after fifteen minutes without driving. I didn't know what to do and with your luck I should be worried that the man was an escaped criminal. I got out of my car and headed to yours and hid behind your truck. I peered at you through your truck's back window and that was when I noticed that the man had a knife at your throat. I took immediate action." Edward finished his story with a sigh and a wary look at Bella.

"I swear to goodness Bella only you could accidentally pick up a perilous murderer off the side of the rode," Edward said grimly.

"Well there's more to it then meeting him on the side of the road," Bella said with a nervous smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Edward said slightly confused but more concerned. Jones then gave a loud groan in his sleep that disturbed Bella and Edward from their conversation.

Bella then said, "I'll explain to you later. Right now we should probably get him out of here."

"Right," Edward agreed, "The faster he gets to prison the better."

"Getting him to a hospital might also help too."

Edward sighed and said, "You really can't go one day without me, can you?"

"Nope, which is why you can never leave me," Bella finally said with a small smile.

* * *

"Bella, we don't want to be late now do we?" Charlie called from downstairs.

"I'm coming," Bella called back. She was in her room, staring at herself through the body-length mirror in her room, trying to make sure she looked well enough in her simple black dress and gloves to go to a funeral. She then grabbed her matching black purse and hurried down the stairs to where her father was waiting.

Bella slipped on her black flats and her and her father were out of the house. They walked carefully in elegant clothing to Charlie's police cruiser where they quickly got inside. Charlie then pulled out of the Swans' driveway and then Bella and Charlie were off to Charlotte's wedding.

As the car drove on, Bella leaned her head against the window as she reminisced about everything that happened the past week.

After the meadow scene, Bella and Edward had carried and drove Jones to the police station in Edward's Volvo (Correction: Just Edward had driven Jones to the police station in his Volvo while Bella had to follow behind him in her truck. Edward wouldn't dare give Jones another chance to attack her in case he woke up). After that Bella and Edward had told the police, mainly Charlie, about how they found Jones while just leaving out just a few minor details (like how Edward almost ripped off the door of Bella's car just to drag Jones out of it). The police believed them-not that they had an option-and after a day in the hospital Jones was sent back to the state prison he escaped from.

Charlie even managed to like Edward just a little more. A very little more.

Though things weren't all happy and joyous because there was still the death of a little child to attend to. Charlotte's wake had been awful; Bella had gone to it just the day before alone. She nearly choked up when she saw Charlotte's body lying in the coffin.

It wasn't because Bella couldn't stand dead corpses (she had been two a couple funerals before, including her grandmother's) but it was because the corpse didn't look like Charlotte. Whoever took care of dressing up dead bodies must of put some sort of make-up layering Charlotte's body because Charlotte didn't even look human. She looked like some oversized doll dressed to look like Charlotte but wasn't Charlotte, and it made it all that much harder to believe she was dead.

Bella had met Charlotte's mother who was a tall lady with a strong posture and even a little smile, but her eyes were completely bloodshot. Bella had met her father who was lanky and serious and just as tall as Charlotte's mother but didn't keep up a strong façade and was on the verge of weeping a river.

And then there was Charlotte's little brother who didn't seem sad but confused like he didn't know how Charlotte could be dead and he kept staring at Charlotte's body like it would wake up. Bella had also met Charlotte's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that were just the most melancholic people Bella had ever seen. Bella could only pity them because she had no idea what it was like to lose somebody like this at such a young age. She almost cried when Charlotte's family gave her a bouquet of flowers for all her work.

The funeral mass earlier today was just as bad with the only sounds to be heard were the prayers of the priest and the weeping of miserable people. The mass seemed to drag on for hours, prolonging everyone's tears. Bella had managed to save up her courage until the end when they started taking her body out of the church, when they took her friend away.

After that, Bella and Charlie had gone home to have something to eat and to calm themselves from the sad thoughts of Charlotte, and then to only prepare them for the final part of the funeral at the cemetery where they would give their last condolences before Charlotte was buried.

"Were here," Charlie said, dragging Bella out of her flashback. Bella looked up and saw the grim cemetery displayed before them and bit her lip to hold back any nervous whimpers.

Charlie drove further into the cemetery, passing an ocean of gravestones as he reached further and further towards Charlotte's grave.

As they passed more gravestones, Bella noticed that some of the gravestones had faces carved into them, the faces of the their deceased owners. When Bella looked closer at these faces and she noticed that they were all young looking. When she read their epitaphs she found a woman who died at thirty-nine and then a young boy who died at eighteen. And Bella couldn't help but wonder: _Would they carve Charlotte's face into her gravestone?_

More gravestones passed until Charlie and Bella saw a group of people gathered under one tent in front of a casket ready to be buried. They knew the casket was Charlotte's and the people were her beloved ones. They parked their car and nervously walked towards the crowd. On the way to the crowd, a man stopped them and gave them each a rose to hold on to. When they finally got to the crowd, a friend of Charlotte's family was beginning a short speech on Charlotte:

"Today we are gathered here for the death of Charlotte Hilda Esther Ather whom died very young of a tragic death. May her soul rest in peace. Charlotte was always a kind child who never complained when helping someone else and was never rude to a stranger or a lost soul…," The woman went on about Charlotte and her young life.

Bella thought she was going to cry and so she did. Even though she knew of Charlotte for one day, it still felt like she lost a friend or friendship. And for one moment in time Bella could see how her life would be different if Charlotte stayed alive. She could see her and Charlotte meeting at the bus stop regularly and sometimes Bella would forget bus change and then Charlotte would have to lend her some more and Bella would protect Charlotte from anyone who tried to hurt her and she would walk Charlotte home even if that meant walking another mile to her own home.

When school started in September, they would have gone to the same high school (Bella a senior and Charlotte a freshmen) and would talk and wave to each other in the hall, and if they were lucky they would get the same lunch period together. Instead of taking the bus, Bella might drive Charlotte home and she would tutor Charlotte in subjects she had trouble in or just help Charlotte with her homework.

But that would never happen again because Bella isn't going to see Charlotte for a long time, maybe even never again. Bella broke down at the thought that a beautiful piece of her life, and a wonderful person, had been taken away.

It was then that the lady spoke up again, "This concludes our service for Charlotte H. E. Ather. I would now like everyone to gather in a single-filed line in front of Charlotte's casket and take the roses you were given and put them on Charlotte's casket as your last wish for her. Once you have given your rose, please return to your car."

At the sound of this, everyone moved into a single-filed line and one by one everyone started to place their roses, as well as a few tears, on Charlotte's casket with either a small prayer or wish for her.

When it was Bella's turn to put her rose on Charlotte's casket, she said, "Thankfully I got to repay you for your favor and I hope that you rest easy and that you will watch over all those who are grieving for you. Goodbye Charlotte, maybe I'll see you again, someday." Bella kissed her rose and laid it on Charlotte's casket.

A tear escaped her eye but she held strong and gave Charlotte's family one more hug for each of them. She then proceeded to where Charlie's cruiser was parked, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Edward standing there in a black suit.

"I thought you could use some support so I came," Edward said with a smaller version of his famous crooked smile while taking Bella's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"Thank you," Bella replied and gave his hand a little squeeze as well.

"How about we go out somewhere for lunch? Eating helps with depression I think," Edward then gently tugged at Bella to follow him.

"What about Charlie?" Bella asked.

"I already asked him. Naturally he said yes."

"Okay." The couple then walked over to Edward's silver Volvo, hand in hand.

In the corner of Bella's eye, she thought she saw Charlotte's apparition leaning by a tree and smiling at her. Charlotte gave a little wave at Bella and mouthed "thank you" at her. Whether it was her imagination or real, Bella gave a little wave back and whispered, "No problem." Bella then watched as Charlotte's spirit slowly evaporated into thin air.

* * *

**I'm going to miss my friend dearly even if I'm not feeling the full effect of her death yet. She was a great friend, a wonderful person, an amazing scout sister, and many more. I wonder what my life would be like if she was still alive but I'll never know for sure. I'm sorry about my friend's death and I hope she would have liked the story.**

**I would like everyone to treasure the people they have around them (even the people you're not that close to) because one of them might not be there tomorrow, but I hope none of you ever have to lose a family member or friend or anyone close to you at such a young age. People leave your life as easily as they do enter.**

**I'm sorry if the second part of this story came a bit later than expected. I get distracted when writing on the weekdays and I had to attend a funeral and wake of my own too. I'm also sorry if the descriptions for Charlotte and her family aren't detailed enough, it's just that I'm trying to keep the identities of my friend and her family a secret. Even so, I hope you pray for my friend if you can or send her a little wish if you will.**

**-J.J.**


End file.
